During the second half of the Pedro Bravo trial today, the state
presented interrogation video between Detective Randy Roberts of the
Gainesville Police Department and defendant Pedro Bravo.
In the video Bravo said he never wanted to go to a school like Santa Fe. He wanted
to go to a University like the University of Florida or Harvard, and
that's one of the main reasons he felt suicidal.
"Also, your friend (Christian Aguilar) is dating your ex-girlfriend?"
Roberts questioned Bravo.
"No, that doesn't bother me," said Bravo. "He's a good guy."
Bravo's original story during the interrogation was that he and Aguilar
were in Bravo's car together and the two got into an altercation. Bravo
then stopped the car and kicked Aguilar out.
Roberts told Bravo not to be afraid to tell him if something happened
and that he had hurt Aguilar trying to defend himself.
"Christian isn't a person to attack me. And yes I would fight back, but
I also wouldn't attack someone out of spite," said Bravo.
Eventually Bravo conceded in the video that he had in fact punched Aguilar. Otherwise,
he said that he would have felt guilty and was afraid it would come back to bite him.
Bravo said he only punched Aguilar once after Aguilar said "You should kill
yourself, you should do it." Although Bravo admitted there was a
physical altercation, he stressed that he only punched him once, just because he
was angry.
In his original story he told authorities he did not have Aguilar's
phone, but then later admitted that he kept it and turned it off at
about 7:20 that night. He said he planned on keeping Aguilar's backpack
until the next day, but threw his phone out the window. He said he
wanted to give the backpack back to Aguilar the next day and apologize.
Bravo said that Aguilar did not say anything during the fight, aside
from the comment that started it.
Bravo's story continued to change throughout the interview including
how many times he punched Aguilar, and details of where he drove to, and
what he did later that night.
"Do you know what happened to Christian?" asked Roberts.
"No," said Bravo.
"What do you think happened to him?"
"I'm hoping he's lost."
When Roberts was questioned in the court room he stated that he
and Bravo had gone out in his patrol car to retrace Bravo's steps the night he
kicked Aguilar out of the car. When Bravo told the story again in the next
interrogation video, he said he went a different
way than what he had originally shown the detective.
Roberts went to Bravo's house the next day where he found
Aguilar's backpack inside a suitcase in Bravo's closet.
State attorneys questioned Roberts on warrants he obtained in September
of 2012 to search Bravo's home and his continuation in the case when Aguilar's body
was found in Levy County 6.2 miles west of Otter Creek at Gulf Hammock Hunt Club.
The trial is scheduled to continue tomorrow at 9 am.